It is known, according to prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,651 issued on Apr. 7, 1992 and referring to FIG. 1, that a terminal applicator 1 applies a crimp force, transmitted from a ram 3 through a crimping bar 2 securely attached to a ram 3 to a wire conductor disposed in a terminal on an anvil 5 attached to a base 6. A majority portion of the applied crimp force is retransmitted back through the crimping bar 2 to a cantilevered member 4 where the majority portion of the crimp force is measured. A minority portion of the applied crimp force transmitted into the ram 3 and is not measured.
It is also known to measure a press force applied by the die press during the crimping cycle to assess the quality of a core crimp portion that connects a wire conductor to a terminal. The press force includes a force component known as the core crimp force that is needed to produce a core crimp portion that crimps a terminal to an exposed portion of the wire conductor during the crimping cycle. Measurement of the press force does not allow a consistent, reliable quality decision regarding the core crimp portion to be rendered, especially for a size of wire conductor of less then or equal to 20 gauge connected to a corresponding terminal.
It is desirable to render a consistent, reliable quality decision regarding the core crimp portion produced after the core crimp force is applied during the crimping cycle, especially for a terminal crimped to a size of wire conductor of less then or equal to 20 gauge. For example, the quality defects of a wire strand missing in the core crimp portion and wire insulation contained in the core crimp portion are important to detect to ensure that the mechanical and electrical integrity of the crimp connection of the terminal to the wire conductor is not impaired. Because smaller gauge wire of less than 20 gauge includes wire strands having a smaller cross sectional area than similar strands of larger gauge wire, detecting the quality defect of a strand of wire conductor missing from the core crimp portion becomes increasingly difficult. An undetected core crimp portion that is defective may produce an undesired effect of downstream quality issues when the terminal connected to the wire conductor is manufactured into a wiring harness.
Therefore, what is needed is a crimping apparatus that is configured to apply a core crimp force to produce a reliable core crimp portion and render a quality decision that accurately reflects the quality of the produced core crimp portion during the crimping cycle, especially for a terminal crimped to a size of wire conductor of less then or equal to 20 gauge.